


Parade Rest

by himegure



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Marching Band, Band Fic, F/F, F/M, Guard Keith, Guard Shiro, M/M, Marching Band, adam staffs brass, adam went to Garrison High, alfor is band director, allura and shiro staff for guard, and some shadam later on, band bus shenanigans, band couple, bicon shiro, color guard allura, color guard keith, color guard shiro, coran is assistant band director, guard allura, iverson is persucssion staff, james is also a trumpet, keith and lance start out hating each other but get together around end of sophomore year, kinkade is battery, lance is a trumpet player, leifsdottir is a flute/piccolo, matt was drum major when he went to Altea High, pidge started as a flute player and she becomes drum major, rizavi is a clarinet, sam and colleen are the best band parents, shiro was guard captain, so was allura, some of these shows are based off of shows i've done in the past, we got some past shallura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2019-06-27 17:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15690033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/himegure/pseuds/himegure
Summary: Ever since Keith could remember, he's always wanted to be in color guard. He watched Shiro do it in high school and move onto Winter Guard International after high school, and he was determined to do the same. While he has the help of a professional, he struggles a bit as he becomes fully involved and making relationships in the band.He didn't realize how much work goes into making a marching band show.





	1. This Is a Lot Harder Than It Looks

**Author's Note:**

> hey y'all! now that i'm done with band camp and marching season is starting, i figured i would start this fic up! this is going to be heavily influenced by my marching band experiences, since i know bands from different states and communities do things differently. ill try to be as informative as possible with marching band terminology, but i'm actually a color guard girl so i'm more educated on guard terminology. please enjoy! this is an AU i've put a lot of thought into, and marching band is a huge part of my life, so i hope you have fun reading this!
> 
> also! i know that some people get really... heated and upset with shiro's sexuality. just know that this was LONG before season 8 and when he was revealed to be gay, i used to (and still am tbh) so here, he'll be written as bisexual. please don't freak out! again, this entire plot and AU was made over two years ago, so i'm trying to keep it true to what i originally planned.

Marching band. 

The art of combining music with visual marching technique, something so creative and beautiful; an eye-catching sport to those willing to spend 10 minutes to watch the show. The complete unity, of 150 people all in sync as they marched to their drills. The streaks of color and the flashes of silver from the color guard dancing across the field. The characters they play in a show without dialogue. 

This was the exact sport Shiro had fallen in love with all the way back in sixth grade, watching the band play pep songs as they paraded throughout the streets, the guard trailing behind in beautiful hues of color. Everything went up in the air in sync, and it all came down together as well. It left him with a desire to be a part of something so stunning, something that would change his entire future. 

Watching Shiro as Keith grew up also gave him that same itch to be in guard. Going to every single show to watch Shiro, cheer him on through solos and congratulate him for winning or even just having a good run. Crying happy tears with him as Shiro opened the DCI and WGI acceptance letters, having a serious discussion when he decided it was time to stop and teach the next generation of color guard. 

Now, Keith sat at his computer in anticipation, waiting for the email to come through. The email informing Keith if he passed or not. The conversation leading from Keith’s anxiety was one he’d remember for years to come.

 

_ “Shiro, I only want to be on this team if I truly deserve to be there. I don’t want you to be the only reason I made it.” Keith crossed his arms. “I know you’re a really influential person, but if I’m not cut out for it, I don’t want to drag everybody else down.” He earned a heavy sigh from Shiro.  _

 

_ “You’re cut out for it, if you keep telling yourself that you’ll start believing it. I know you’ll make it, even if I don’t say anything. You have a talent-” _

 

_ “I don’t have talent, I just work hard.”  _

 

_ “...Right. But-” _

 

_ “No. Just… tell me when the email comes in, I have homework I need to finish.” Keith replied, sighing as he walked past Shiro to his room. _

 

How Keith cried when Shiro showed him the email. The email with a list of the people who made it into color guard for the upcoming year. The proud smile Shiro had as they went out for celebratory sushi. It tasted a lot better that night. 

 

For the two months that followed auditions and the confirmation email, Keith put all of his effort into practices. He wanted to do this himself, he turned down help from Shiro as much as possible outside of practice. It was frustrating, he kept dropping the flag on simple things. By the time band camp came around, he was just barely catching singles. He’d been hit on the head by his flag so many times he was sure he had a concussion. 

 

Waking up at 6 AM for band camp was horrible, after being used to waking up around 10 or 11. Shiro would throw open Keith’s door, blasting the show music throughout the house as Keith groaned and threw a pillow at him. ‘It’s band camp time, Keith!’ Shiro would yell out. He actually had to drag Keith to the bathroom so he could shower the first two mornings. 

 

\----

 

Keith walked onto Altea High School’s campus Monday morning at 6:30 AM. He yawned as he grabbed his flag bag from the band room, Shiro off taking care of staff responsibilities. The band room slowly filled up with band and guard kids, all anywhere from new freshmen to returning seniors. He didn’t recognize anybody there, so he played a game on his phone as he waited for everybody to make their way up to the stadium.

 

“Keith!” 

 

Keith looked up, watching Shiro walk up to him with Matt accompanying him. 

 

“You remember Matt, right?”

 

“A little bit…”

 

“I’m offended, Keith.” Matt pretended to gasp out of shock, laughing immediately after. “What are you doing here in the corner by yourself?” 

 

“Minding my own business. I don’t know anybody here, and having you guys talking to me is making everybody look at me.” Keith replied quietly, feeling eyes on him. Matt chuckled. 

 

“Well, I’m about to change that.” Matt grabbed Keith’s shoulder, pulling him along to the back entrance. He lightly pushed Keith towards a group he didn’t know, the group pausing their conversation to look at him. “Keith, this is my sister Katie, Hunk, and Lance. Katie, Hunk, and Lance, this is Keith.” He announced proudly, high fiving Shiro. “Have fun and don’t kill each other!” He added, running off with Shiro. The band kids were starting to gather their belongings to head up to the stadium. Well this was awkward. 

 

“Hey, Keith, you’re in guard? That’s cool, my sister wants to try it when she gets into high school,” one of the three said, smiling warmly. He held a trumpet, as well as one of the others in the group. The smaller girl held a flute. “I’m Hunk, by the way, that’s Lance, and Katie.” 

 

“Nice to meet you-” Keith started, almost immediately getting cut off. 

 

“You’re in guard? But you’re a dude, are you gay?” The one named Lance shot in, getting a bit too close to Keith’s face. He assumed Lance was going for a top-dog menacing look, but he looked pretty stupid doing it. 

 

“Yeah, actually, I’ve known since I was 6.” Keith replied blankly. Lance immediately turned bright red in the face, stuttering as he tried to find something to say. 

 

“W-Well, we’re gonna be late for running block, we’ve gotta go.”

 

——

 

The band walked into the stadium, setting their instruments and equipment down on the sideline. Section leaders and staff gave out directions, and within minutes the entire band was in a block on the track. The drum major stood in front of the band, a drumstick and cowbell in hand. 

 

“Band ten hut!” 

 

“One!” 

 

Matt, Shiro, Allura, and Adam all sat in the bleachers, watching as the band ran a lap in tempo. 

 

“Oh, lordy, they don’t know how to run in time.”

 

“It’s their first day, Adam. I’m sure it’ll be better tomorrow, that’s how it is every year.”

 

“At least the guard’s in time.” 

 

“Isn’t Keith on guard?”

 

“Mhm, he threw a fit when I offered my help. He wanted to make sure he got in on his own skill, not by being related to me.” 

 

“I wonder how well of a dancer he is.” 

 

“It’ll take some work, but I’m sure he’ll do great.” 

 

“Oh, look at Lance, trying to get ahead of the drum major.” 

 

“Oh no Keith’s trying to beat Lance.” 

 

“They should dance together in the second movement.” Adam suggested, crossing his arms. The rest of the group looked at him, blinking slowly. “...What…?”

 

“Adam, you’re a genius!” The trio yelled in sync. They earned a concerned glance from Alfor and Coran, setting up the press box for the day. Allura waved them off, and they continued with what they were doing. 

 

“So I’m not the only one who sees it?” 

 

“A blind man could see it, Adam.”

 

  * ••



 

Morning block was absolutely horrible. It was only around 7:30 and it was already 80°F out; they wouldn’t be off the field until 11 and it was bound to only get hotter. At every break, Keith was slapping on as much sunscreen as he could. He burned easily, but he refused to leave band camp burnt. 

 

Across the floors were usually fun, but they were also always inside for that portion of the practice. Doing dance combinations, leaps, and everything in between on a hot summer’s day was nowhere near fun. Keith was constantly wiping the sweat off of his face. 

 

Allura and Shiro joined the guard at this point, Adam and the drum majors leading visual block with the band. You could hear the percussion taking various warmups with Iverson, Alfor and Coran walking around and watching the band as they warmed up. 

 

“Welcome to your first day of band camp!” Allura smiled, clapping her hands together. “Now, we’ve had a good handful of practices before this, so let’s make sure we remember everything we’ve learned up to this point, alright?” She asked, the color guard replying with a ‘yes ma’am’. They took jazz walks and runs, along with other one-step moves across the field. 

 

“Alright, color guard, combo 17.”

 

“Combo 23.”

 

“Combo 6.” 

 

There were so many combos, Keith had a hard time remembering them all. He managed to get through it though, despite nearly falling on his face doing an illusion. Maybe Shiro would be able to help him on his flexibility and balance.

 

Keith thanked the gods above as they finished, clapping as the guard went to their belongings. 

 

“Alright guard,” Shiro started, “stay hydrated and don’t get burned. Take it easy until the band’s done, they should be finishing up here shortly. In the meantime, can the captains hand out the drill sheets?”

 

——

 

Keith really regretted not paying attention to Shiro talking about marching band when he was younger. He was obsessed with the end product but never took the time to pay attention to the process that went into it. 

 

When looking at the field from the viewer’s point of view, the left half of the field was side one. The right side was side two. But if you faced the bleachers, then side two was to your left and side one was to your right. There was inside the yard line and outside the yard line, so many steps in front of or behind side lines and hash marks. How was 3.75 steps a thing? Keith was starting to rethink his choices. 

 

Every 20 minutes, Alfor excused the band for a water break. Keith decided to talk to the group from earlier. 

 

“God, I can’t wait for sectionals this afternoon.” Lance groaned, taking a long sip from his water. 

 

“Why, so you can dick around with Hunk for three hours?” Katie snorted. 

 

“I just wanna get out of this sun.” Lance replied as he rolled his eyes. “And besides, sectionals aren’t fun unless I’m there.”

 

“Sectionals are meant to learn our parts, they’re not supposed to be entertaining.” Katie shot back. “Anyways, what was guard doing? You guys were doing some crazy kicks and leaps n crap down there.” She added, turning the attention to Keith. Keith shrugged. 

 

“I mean, just dance stuff. Allura’s an amazing dancer, I wish I could move like her. I’m not flexible at all.” 

 

“Lance can do his splits.” Hunk laughed. 

 

“Yeah, and I’m proud of it! I can touch my toes, too! Unlike you, Hunk.”

 

“Hey, my toes are on the ground, I don’t need to bend over and grab them so I’m fine not being able to grab them.”

 

“That’s such a cop-out answer.” 

 

“Wait, you can do the splits? How? Did you dance when you were younger?” Keith asked, crossing his arms. Lance shook his head. 

 

“No, but my sisters did. I’d stretch with them when they were home, and after a while I could do them. I never really got around to stretching other stuff though, so I’m just limited to left and right splits. I’ll bet $10 that you can’t do any of them.” He smirked, crossing his arms as well. Keith laughed. 

 

“I-“

 

“Alright band, let’s get back in! Set 3, everybody. Coran’s gonna clean these last few sets really quickly, up up everyone!” Alfor’s voice thundered throughout the stadium, everybody getting up and back on the field in less than 30 seconds. 

 

——

 

“Everyone on the 50.” Alfor said as he stood up, getting out of the press box with Coran. They made their way down to the field along with the rest of the staff, the entire band huddled up on the 50 yard line. 

 

“Excellent work this morning,” Coran started, “and good job for sticking it out through this heat. Make sure to eat well and hydrate up at this next break, and call time for sectionals is 12 sharp. Guard has the MPR, brass has the band room, woodwinds will be in the choir room, and percussion has the theatre. Now, drum majors, come on in.” 

 

As the drum majors spoke, congratulating the band on their hard work this morning, Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Katie all huddled together in the back. 

 

“Where should we go for lunch?” Lance asked in a hushed voice. 

 

“What about the Balmera? It’s right down the street.” Hunk suggested, blushing lightly. Lance stifled a laugh. 

 

“You’re just saying that because of Shay in percussion.”

 

“Who’s Shay?” Keith questioned. 

 

“Oh, Keith, one of the disadvantages of you being in guard is you don’t know all of the band people until band camp.” Lance tisked. “Shay’s in pit, she can play any instrument in there but she’s best at keyboard and piano. Her family owns the Balmera, she’s also a first gen band kid in her family. Everybody else in her family cooks and bakes. And Hunk’s totally liked her since the eighth grade when she was accidentally put into our band class.” 

 

“I do not!” 

 

“Quiet down,” Katie hissed, smacking Lance’s and Hunk’s arms lightly, “the drum major is gonna make us take a lap if we don’t stay quiet.” 

 

“BAND TEN HUT!” 

 

“ONE!” 

 

The entire band snapped to attention, as the pow-wow was about to start. 

 

“WE ARE-“

 

“ALTEA HIGH!”

 

“WE ARE-“

 

“Already dying!” Lance yelled out, earning disapproving looks from his peers. He laughed it off. 

 

“WE ARE-“

 

“PROUD!” 

 

“Alteans dismissed!” 

 

The band dispersed, going to their respective sections to collect their belongings. Keith grabbed his flag bag, throwing it up onto his shoulder and grabbing his duffle bag. 

 

“Hey, Keith!” Shiro called out, walking over to him. “What are you doing for lunch? Do you need money?” 

 

“Actually, yeah, Katie, Hunk, Lance, and I are gonna go walk down to the Balmera.” Keith replied, watching the mentioned group approach. 

 

“Here’s $20, don’t spend it all and-“

 

“And no dairy. You tell me this every time.” Keith laughed. 

 

“Because you don’t seem to care that you’re lactose intolerant, and the last thing I need is you having issues because you wanted to eat cheese or something during band camp. Have fun.” Shiro chuckled, playfully shoving him before walking off. He joined Adam, as Iverson lectured the percussion and Allura seemed to be gone already. Matt was discussing the show with Alfor and Coran, along with things they needed to talk to the section leaders about. Adam seemed to be nice. 

 

“Ready?” Katie asked as Keith started walking with the group. Keith nodded. 

 

“Yeah, let’s go.” 


	2. And Hell Continues On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all! it's been a whole ass month since i've updated, my life's kind of a mess right now so i haven't sat down and written in a while, but here's the next chapter! i'm proud of how much i wrote, i broke my previous record of 3.6k words by writing 5.8k for this one. 
> 
> as a disclaimer, the shows i'm writing into this fic are shows i've either done or my friends have done. coming up with a ten minute, four part show with hundreds of other elements is really hard, so i'm saving myself that headache. i have the shows decided for freshman year, junior year, and senior year, but for my readers either in marching band or start poking around in the sport out of curiousity, if you find a show online please don't hesitate to send it to me! i won't copy the show 100%, hell, if i find a couple of similar shows i might blend them all into one and call it a day. and there's a lot of things in this fic that's exclusive to my band, like the reindeer games in the next chapter! on top of that, most bands i know have a 2 week band camp where they're only out there from morning to noon, my BC this year was from 7 am to 9:30 pm, so since i only know my band's experiences, that's how i'll be writing it.
> 
> enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this doesn't concern any new readers, but if you've been reading since the start, you may have noticed that this chapter repeated itself about halfway through? i was trying to copy and paste something around the middle, but i accidentally pasted the first half of the chapter again without realizing it. so that's fixed now! and i previously thought that this chapter was 4.7k, but when i checked it again turns out it was 5.8k.
> 
> new chapter coming soon!

And with that, going to the Balmera was the group’s band camp tradition.

“Maybe we should come here during the dinner break when we have more time.” Katie sighed, sitting back in her seat as she pushed her plate away from her. Keith had to agree, they still had some time to get back to the school, but they didn’t have time to sit and relax after eating. The group paid for their meal, getting their belongings and making their way back to Altea’s campus.

“Why don’t we get to know each other-“ Katie started, almost immediately being cut off by Lance.

“Katie, we already know each other, we were all in band together.” Lance interjected as he crossed his arms. “Ever since the sixth grade. We were all in the same band class.”

“Well excuse me for trying to include Keith.” Katie huffed. “Anyways, Keith, is it true Shiro’s your brother?”

“Yeah, he is actually. He’s pretty big in the color guard community, he can get out some of the highest tosses anybody’s ever been able to do. But I made sure he didn’t just get me in because I wanted to be in. I wanted to get in on my own skills-“

“You don’t have any skills, Mullet.”

“You know what? Fuck you Lance, I haven’t said one mean thing to you at all and yet you’re being a dick. And I don’t have a mullet, I just don’t cut my hair like you or Hunk do.” Keith rolled his eyes. It was day one, and he’d have to deal with Lance throughout the seasons during the next four years. This was gonna be great. “Whatever. Shiro’s a pretty cool guy, he went out with Allura in high school. They broke up a year ago though, I guess it just didn’t work between them. I saw him walking off with Adam, though, so I wonder if he’s seeing him.” He added, earning a shrug from Katie.

“I could ask Matt if he knows anything, but he also works with the winds, so he might not be involved with all of that. Is Adam gay?”

“He swings both ways, actually. At least, from what I saw from his Facebook.” Hunk chimed.

“Who the hell still uses Facebook?” Lance replied.

“You realize all of our band stuff is on Facebook, right?”

“I’ll just rely on you telling me everything like usual.”

“God forbid Hunk misses a practice, oh no, what if both Hunk AND Katie are absent? Who’re you gonna go to?” Keith teased, “Because I certainly won’t fill you in.”

“Fuck you, Keith.”

“You better watch your mouth, McClain.” A voice called out. Adam chuckled and waved, Shiro ducking his head down and waving as well. They were at a red light, and the group was about to pass. “I honestly don’t care, just make sure you don’t talk like that around Allura, Alfor, Coran, or Iverson. They won’t be having it.” he added, Lance laughing as he rolled his eyes.

“Got it, see you at sectionals.” Lance replied as the car took off. “Did they have lunch together?”

“Yeah, they did.” Keith nodded. “They’ve gotta be seeing each other.”

——

Keith’s legs ached as he walked into the stretch block. He didn’t deal with heat well, and it was only day one. He had his bangs pinned back and his hair up in a ponytail, although there wasn’t too much hair to put into it.

“Alright, guard, we’re gonna take some light stretches and we’ll split up into our groups. Let’s get into block.” Allura chirped, looking down at her phone as she selected the warm up music. It was usually pop songs you heard on the radio with a faster tempo, but Keith didn’t really pay attention to the songs themselves. Once he picked up the tempo, he tuned out the music.

The guard took arm stretches, leg stretches, and others as well. He looked over and saw one girl down in her middle splits, pulling herself through from sitting to laying down on the ground. Another girl was stretching her penché, her friend pushing her leg further and further back. Keith was envious, he wanted to do things like that. They looked cool.

“Listen up guard, I want these people on rifle, these people on sabre, and the rest of you on flag.” Shiro called out, gesturing to people as he assigned equipment. Keith frowned as he was put on flag. After everybody left to get their equipment, Keith approached Shiro.

“Why am I on flag line?”

“...What?” Shiro blinked slowly.

“I wanna be on weapon.”

“Keith, you know the drill. First years aren’t allowed on weapon line, they need to learn all of the basics and start developing technique.” Shiro crossed his arms. He smirked. “And you said it yourself, you don’t want any special treatment from me.”

Keith sighed, crossing his arms like Shiro did. He practically mirrored the man these days, all Shiro needed to do was grow out a mullet and Keith get a scar across his nose.

“Fine, but I’m gonna aim to be on weapon in winterguard. It’s allowed. And I’m gonna aim to be a primary weapon.”

“Fine by me, but for now you need to get into flag block.” Shiro replied, shooing him off with a simple hand wave. Keith stayed quiet as he got his flag out of his flag bag, unrolling the silk and making his way to flag block.

The entire time Keith was learning flag choreography, he couldn’t help but glance at the weapon lines. They were doing such cool choreography, tossing the weapons high up into the air. The captain was given a solo for the opener to toss a seven after her own choreography, and he wanted it so badly.

But he was only a first year flag, he had much more work ahead of him.

—-

“And that concludes afternoon block! We like you guys so we’ll let you go a bit early,” Shiro announced at the front of the room, “just make sure to be back by 6 in running block, I recommend going home and showering during your three hour break but it’s up to you.”

Keith gathered his things, packing up rather slowly as the rest of the team hurried to get out of the building as soon as possible. What was the big rush? Keith didn’t know, but then again he also had to wait for Shiro to go home and he most likely had staff duties to take care of before they could leave. Sometimes he hated having staff family.

As Shiro and Allura worked out some sabre choreography for the opening soloist (which wasn’t Keith to his disappointment), Keith walked out and made his way over to the choir room. He stood outside the door as he waited for a moment of silence before poking his head in.

“Hey Matt, guard got out early and Shiro’s doing stuff for a bit, mind if I chill in here until he’s done?”

“Sure,” Matt chuckled, “we’re just taking movement one music, nothing too special.”

“It beats the computer generated version of the opener over and over.” Keith replied as he entered the choir room, closing the door behind him. He sat down on the piano bench, pulling out his phone and resuming his game from that morning. 

Time seemed to fly by Keith, because before he knew it, the woodwind section was packing up their instruments and getting ready to leave. Keith approached Katie, clicking off his phone.

“What’s up, Keith?”

“Nothing much, Shiro and Allura are making choreography for one of the soloists so I decided to come in here and bother you guys.”

“Honestly, we didn’t get much done. For the first half of it we were playing ice breakers to get to know our section and section leaders better. You missed it, it was great. Matt advertised his meme page and the freshmen were all soaking it up. Little do they know it was my account first but I gave it to him for his birthday,” Katie snorted, closing her flute case. “So what’s everybody doing for the dinner break?”

“I’m not sure,” Keith shrugged, “I know I’m definitely going home and showering though.”

“I’m probably gonna do the same, Matt doesn’t want to be here longer than he has to be.”

“I wish Shiro was the same way, given that I don’t have 6 missed calls from him he’s probably still doing choreography with Allura.”

“Still?” Katie asked, raising her eyebrows. Keith laughed.

“Shiro’s a guard machine, he could probably do stuff all day and go to bed wanting to do more. He’d only be in bed because someone forced him to stop and get some sleep.”

“Matt was like that in high school, I remember my parents yelling at him to come downstairs to eat because he’d just keep practicing. For months I would space out in class and all I could hear was chromatic scales, I even had his show music memorized because of how much he practiced. It was insane. We still don’t understand why he didn’t try out for honor band.” She shrugged. Keith followed her back into the band room as she put her case away. “Also, you’re burnt as hell.”

“Damnit!”

\----

“Keith, I told you to put on sunscreen,” Shiro said to Keith as they got into the car. “Your face is burnt, be glad I told you to cover up your shoulders or they’d be just as bad.”

“I did! I even used the SPF 100.”

“You’ve gotta reapply at every break. Don’t hesitate to ask if you can reapply if guard isn’t doing anything either, I’d say you don’t need to ask but then everybody else would start doing it too.”

“Anyways, moving on from my sensitive skin, how are the freshmen so far?” Keith asked curiously as they exited the parking lot. Nobody was at the school, except for those who decided to stay for the dinner break. Shiro and Allura had ended up working on choreography for nearly 40 minutes after afternoon block let out, to which Keith took a nap to pass the time.

“Not half bad, actually. Some of them are still struggling with flag, but I see potential in all of them. Except that Jessie girl, she has an attitude. Also, I want you to be on weapon line for winter guard, and you’re not gonna fight against my extra help. I know you want it, I see that look in your eyes when you see the others pulling off cool stunts.” Shiro replied. The Broganes house came into view, and Keith scrambled out of the car to get inside. He kicked off his shoes, slipping his house slippers on and walking into the kitchen. Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, he gulped down half of it before replying.

“Shiro, I don’t fight your extra help because I don’t want help, I fight it because I want to earn the spots myself, and everybody knows you’re my brother. They’ll think you’re playing favorites or something,” Keith responded, “I already have a lot of high expectations from everybody, both marching band and guard. You’re a legend in the marching community, and you would be accepted into any DCI or WGI group around the world. I’m just… your freshman little brother who can’t even get a flag around without dropping it. How am I gonna make it onto weapon line if I can’t do that-” He was stopped by firm hands on his shoulders; Shiro took a deep breath as he got down to eye level with Keith.  
“Everybody starts somewhere. Allura wasn’t good at flag her first year—now look at her—she’s mastered all three classes of guard equipment and can spin just about anything. Matt couldn’t remember his drill for the life of him, he was always using his peripherals to make sure he was in the right spots.

“I can’t say anything about Adam, since I never marched with him, but I’m willing to bet you my next paycheck he had struggles too. Don’t beat yourself up so much, as bad as it sounds, I really wouldn’t have put you on the team if I didn’t think you had any potential. I’ll admit, I might be a bit more lenient with you at times, but I’m also going to be pushing you a lot more than the others because I live with you and frankly, I know you better than you know yourself.” After a moment, he chuckled.

“Alright, now go shower and take a nap, you worked hard today. I’ll make dinner soon before we have to leave, I’ll wake you up when it’s ready.”

—

Keith had never fallen asleep so quickly.

It was only day one and his body ached, which he didn’t understand. He barely did anything, all he did was rep his sets—most of which was walking, freshmen didn’t get difficult drill— and do some basic flag choreography during the afternoon. He didn’t think it was a lot of work, but his body said otherwise.

Shiro made sure Keith ate a good amount of rice that week, claiming he’d have more energy the next day when eaten in the right amount. Keith didn’t really pay attention, just nodding along as he ate.

As the brothers entered the football stadium once more, Keith was covering his exposed skin in sun screen as he joined his friends once more. And Lance.

“What was it Sefina made? It was so good, I think I ate too much.” Lance laughed, nudging Hunk.

“Sapasui, it’s been a while since she made it that way, too,” Hunk replied, “I’ll have to ask her and Mama to make it again soon. Oh, hey Keith!”

“Hey,” Keith waved, “Who’s Sefina?”

“Sefina is my Tina, or mom, and Sinenhlanhla is my Mama, they’re amazing at cooking. We switch between Samoan and African dishes every night, and once a week we do a mix of both. I should have you guys over one night for dinner.” Hunk replied, smiling. He hesitated for a moment before speaking again, “you’re okay with being around two moms, right?”

Keith snorted.

“Hunk, I’m gay, and my godparents are two overly serious men. Now that I mention it, I haven’t seen Thace and Ulaz in a while. Kolivan, too…” He trailed off. Hunk smiled shyly.

“Sorry, I’m just used to having to prepare myself for the comments people make when they find out I have two moms.”

“I get it completely.”

“Anyways,” Hunk beamed, “now that we’ve had a little heart to heart, why don’t you put your number in my phone? We could have a group chat between the four of us.” He replied, pulling out his phone and handing it to Keith. Keith hesitated for a moment. He never had too many friends growing up, and this group seemed too good to be true. Might as well give it a shot, he figured. Once Keith put in his contact, he handed it back to Hunk, and it was time for evening block.

Keith made his way over to the opposite side of the field, watching the band kids form their own giant block on the other. Basics block and across the floors, in many ways, were very similar. Both groups formed a block with even numbers of people in every line and row, they both traveled a certain distance performing different actions, and they both taught and solidified technique. What differed, though, was what they did. The band practiced marching technique, making sure the step sizes were consistent, and that the marching technique from person to person was the same. The color guard, on the other hand, practiced dance technique, often taking choreography in the show across the floor. They also did other dance combinations, and finished the session by thanking the instructors.

Many people loved the activity, Keith did not.

Keith wasn’t terrible at the combinations, it was just… tiring. To add onto it, if too many people messed up going across, they’d repeat the exercise until they fixed their mistakes. Keith couldn’t help but mentally point out simple things; they had been doing these combos for a few months now, how did people still not point their damn feet? Keith could do that much, and if he could do it, anybody could do it.


	3. Welcome to the Reindeer Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reindeer games begin, and day one of five is over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! sorry for the absence, school is stressful as hell but competition season started for me!! our guard won scholastic sweepstakes and our band won second last weekend, it’s been a great start for the season! comment some of your favorite band camp/competition memories and they might make it in here! 
> 
> now, i hope you enjoy the chapter! it’s shorter so im sorry but i hope you like it regardless!

By the time evening block was over, Keith was dripping in sweat. He had to borrow a spare headband from Allura to keep his bangs from sticking to his face. The cold evening breeze felt nice, and was a wonderful cool-down after working hard all day. It was now time for the Altea’s Marching Band Camp tradition of reindeer games, everybody’s favorite part of the hellish week. 

“Alright, everyone,” Alfor announced from the press box, “please get into your teams. There’s five teams this year, so let’s put team one on the Side 1 40 yard line, team six on the Side 2 40. Get into a single file line and await further instructions.” As he finished speaking, he and Coran made their ways down to the field, the staff all gathering by the drum major podium on the 50 sideline.

Keith looked over at Shiro. He forgot to look at the team paper during the lunch break, so he had no idea what team he was on. Shiro held up four fingers; team four. He hurried over to the Side 2 45 line, and he saw Katie was on his team. Keith smiled.

Lance was on team five, Hunk on team one. 

“I’m gonna beat your team, mullet!” Lance yelled. Keith turned to look at him. 

“Again, with the mullet, I don’t have one. But my team is gonna beat yours, just because you said you’d beat mine.” Keith shot back. Their bickering was interrupted by Coran clearing his throat on the podium. 

“Welcome to Altea High’s reindeer games! For the last 30 minutes of band camp every day, we get into teams and compete against each other in various games and activities throughout the week. At the end of the week, we add up all of the points and award the winning team during the awards ceremony after our band camp performance. Is there anyone who doesn’t know what team they’re on? ...No? Great! Let’s begin with tonight’s activity!” One of Coran’s most noticeable features was that he didn’t need a megaphone to address the whole band, despite being older, he still had a booming voice. Keith, being more reserved and quiet, couldn’t imagine being that loud. He wouldn’t be able to talk for a week after it. 

“So, for tonight’s activity, we need a team captain! Staff, please join your team, and count 6 spaces back. Whoever’s in that spot will be the team captain!” Keith nodded along as Coran spoke, watching the staff go to their teams. Adam was the staff for team four, at least he was chill with him. After all, he was convinced Shiro was seeing him, or something along those lines. Adam started counting down the line, stopping at Keith. His eyes widened. Oh shit.

“Front of the line, team captain.” Adam chuckled, patting Keith on the shoulder. 

“No, no, no, can’t you just select someone else? Like, ‘oops, I miscounted’?” 

“Nope.” 

“But-”

“Keith, just get up there.” Adam sighed, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the front of the line. Keith gave up fighting it and accepted his fate as the team four captain, crossing his arms as he stood at the front. He glanced to his left, seeing that Lance was the captain for the fifth team. Wonderful.

“Now that the teams have captains, let us begin!” Coran announced, crossing his arms proudly. “Tonight’s activity will involve making your team name and cheer, but don’t worry, tonight’s the only night you’ll have to use your cheer. Don’t make it boring, though! This is where the teams will gain their first few points. Now go make your cheer! Make sure both your team name and cheer involve this year’s theme: fears. You have five minutes!”

Keith turned around and joined the circle his team was forming, sitting down with his teammates. 

“I say we do something relating to spiders, do we have any flexible people here?” Someone asked. Keith didn’t recognize them, they must have been an upperclassman. 

“I can do stuff,” a girl replied, Vianna from guard. She was one of the girls stretching from earlier, her friend pushing her leg further back. She was extremely flexible. “I could do, like, a handstand into a backbend and walk around on all fours. Like a spider.” Keith had to admit that was a cool idea. 

“She could chase someone or a group of people?”

“What about our name?” 

“Let’s ask our team leader.” 

Oh no. 

“U-Uh…” Keith breathed, glancing around, “W-What about… Kumo-kumo? It means spider in Japanese…” 

“I like that a lot!” Someone replied. The group all agreed, and Keith sighed in relief. They all decided the name would be Kumo-Kumo, and they would chant it as Vianna did her tricks and chased a group of three in a circle. 

There was only about two minutes left by the time Keith’s group figured out their cheer. The other teams scrambled to figure theirs out, so he just sat back and relaxed. Katie came up and sat down next to Keith. 

“Where were you?” He asked curiously, “you disappeared for that whole thing.”

“I’m not creative when it comes to stuff like that, I was hiding behind that tuba player Jonathan. He’s a giant.” 

“And you’re the size of an ant, no wonder you weren’t seen.”

“Exactly.”

Coran cleared his throat once again, getting everyone’s attention.

“Everybody ready? ...Good! We’ll start with team one. What’s your team name?”

“Close Call!” 

“What…?” The other teams on the field asked in unison. 

“Alright… What about your cheer?” Coran asked, almost questioningly. The team formed a cluster on their yard line, one person, Keith assumed it was the team captain, standing outside of it by a foot. 

“It would be really inconvenient if I were to be claustrophobic!” They yelled, the people on the outside of the cluster pulling them into the middle of the cluster. The leader topped it off with a scream. Clever. The other groups laughed, including the staff. Keith watched Hunk walk out of the cluster as the group dispersed.

“That was great, team one! The cheer helps you understand the name. My grandfather was actually claustrophobic! Which is funny, he got his head stuck in a tuba his sophomore year of high school, and the fire department had to be called to get him out. The tuba is fine, don’t worry! I-”

“CORAN!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Coran chuckled nervously, waving his hand to silence the crowd. “Carrying on… Team two!”

The rest of the teams showed off their cheers and team names, some being witty and creative, others being completely half-assed. When Keith’s team went, he was proud of the reaction it brought. Everybody was pretty impressed, but probably because of Vianna’s tricks involved. He glanced over and looked at Lance, who seemed extremely impressed. Keith smirked. 

“Like our cheer Lance? I came up with it.”

Lance’s eyes widened, and his expression immediately changed. Wow. He couldn’t enjoy anything Keith did, could he?

“No, actually, I thought it was pretty terrible since you came up with it Mullet.” He replied, crossing his arms. 

“Lance, be nice.” Adam called out, looking unamused.

“But-!”

“Zip it McClain.” 

After Lance was finished grumbling at Adam, Coran and Alfor huddled together and whispered the each other. The rest of the groups quietly talked amongst themselves as they decided on the winning teams. Minutes later, they came to a conclusion. 

“Can we get everyone’s attention? Thank you, thank you,” Alfor called out as he climbed to the top of the drum major’s podium, “after discussing the groups and such with Coran, we’ve decided on our placements. Are you ready? 

In sixth place, Team 3. In fifth place, Team 2. In fourth place, team 6. Now, top three. In third place, Team 5. In second place, team 1. And in first place… Team 4!” 

Keith’s eyes widened. Wait, team four. That was his team! He heard them cheer behind him, Shiro giving him a thumbs-up from a few sidelines over. Keith turned around and he smiled shyly as some of the team members gave him high fives. 

“And with that, congratulations on finishing day one of band camp! I’ll release you guys in a moment, but while I have you here…” Alfor spoke, and was interrupted by Katie talking besides him. 

“I’m exhausted, I can’t wait to go home and sleep. We gotta watch Matt’s band camp performance from his freshman year though, I’m ready to laugh at him. He tripped coming out of his opening set and fell flat on his face.” Keith snorted. 

“Seriously? Send me a video of it.”

“Of course-”

“BAND TEN HUT!”

“ONE!” The band yelled, snapping to attention.

“We are!”

“Altea High!”

“We are!”

“Lions!”

“We are!”

“Proud!”

“Alteans dismissed!”

Keith walked back to the guard, picking up his flag bag after making sure it was packed properly and slinging his bag over his shoulder. It was quickly removed, and when Keith turned around, he saw Shiro, holding the bag over his shoulder like Keith had it previously. 

“Hey, pretty proud of you. You did great for your first day of your first band camp. Four days to go, and three more years to go. You ready?” Shiro asked, walking with him out of the stadium. Keith smiled. 

“Yeah, I am.”


	4. Now That That's Over...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Band camp is finished. The freshmen reflect on the memories they made over the week, Allura has a talk with Shiro about his emotions, and Keith may or may not be discovering feelings for a certain band member.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> long time no update! turns out updating this during marching season was not something i could do, as my season is long over as i now go into my winter guard season. it's also quite difficult for me to write, especially when i wanna write a lot (like this chapter, can you believe it's 5.8k words EVEN? not a single word over 5,800! it's a new best for me) as this update took me months to write. i could only focus on writing long enough to get a few sentences, maybe a paragraph or more, and battling my ADHD while trying to keep up with my passions for writing and art is... hard. so thank you for being patient with me! enjoy this update!

Despite the heat and general exhaustion from the long days spent at band camp, the week flew by. Before Keith knew it, morning block was let out and the band camp performance would start at 7 later that day. 

 

“Hey, Keith,” Shiro called him over, “you going with Katie and the rest of them?”

 

“Yeah.” Keith replied, being handed a $20. 

 

“Alright, here’s some money for food. If you wanna come home just send me a call. I’ll be at home. Maybe see if your group wants to do a sleepover, all the staff’s  _ possibly _ going out tonight so I won’t be home until late if we do. I’ll open the house to you all for the night if you promise to not destroy anything. If we don’t, we’ll do something else.” Shiro chuckled. Keith snorted. What could go wrong? Just four freshmen together without supervision-

 

Wait. That sounded horrible. He was in. 

 

“I promise. I’ll let you know what happens.”

 

“Sounds good. Have fun. I’ll take your stuff to the car.”

 

Keith thanked Shiro and he ran off, joining the trio. After they put their instruments away, they made their way down to the Balmera. 

 

“So,” Katie started, “what was your guys’ favorite memory from band camp? I know mine, when Keith-“

 

“Don’t-“

 

“Oh, what did Keith do?” Lance poked at Keith, to which he slapped his hand away. 

 

_ Keith and Katie decided to stay back at the Balmera for a bit during the dinner break. It was day three, and Keith wasn’t feeling too hot at this point. Lance and Hunk left, leaving their portion of the bill.  _

 

_ After about 20 minutes, Keith and Katie decided it was time to leave so they wouldn’t be late. They paid for their part of the bill and left.  _

 

_ “So how’s guard?”  _

 

_ “Pretty good, except that four of them all started their periods yesterday. We had a bit of a screaming match between them during afternoon block. I’ve never seen both Shiro in so much panic and Allura so authoritative. It was kind of scary.” Keith replied. As he spoke, a small stream of blood trailed down from his nose, and he didn’t seem to notice. _

 

_ “Dude, your nose is bleeding.”  _

 

_ Keith glanced over at her. “What?” He held a hand up to his face, hesitantly touching the skin by his nose. Pulling his hand away, he could see blood on his fingertips. “Fuck.”  _

 

_ Katie reached into her small backpack. “Hold on,” she mumbled, digging around. “I heard you can stop nosebleeds by plugging your nose with a tampon.”  _

 

_ “Katherine Marie Holt there’s a lot of things I’ll do but shoving a tampon up my nose is not one of them.”  _

 

_ “You can either use the damn tampon or let your nose bleed and possibly pass out before we get back to the school. I have a pad, too, if you don’t wanna walk around with a string hanging out of your nose.” Katie said sternly, almost glaring at Keith. “And if you pass out, you know Shiro’s gonna get mad at you for a.) not taking care of yourself and b.) refusing to let me help you.”  _

 

_ Keith sighed. She had a point. _

 

_ “Give me the pad.” _

 

Lance was nearly crying from laughter as Katie finished the story. Keith rolled his eyes. 

 

“Y-You had to use a pad to soak up your nosebleed? Holy shit.” 

 

“Shut the hell up, Lance.” Keith shot back, crossing his arms. 

 

“Hey,” Hunk interrupted, “I got one. It involves a lemon tree and Lance Charles McClain.”

 

“Don’t-”

 

Hunk took a deep breath. “Our story begins on day four of band camp…”

 

_ “Lance, I don’t think this is a good idea. We should be paying attention, it’s sectionals time. I don’t want Adam to not like us because we’re goofing off…” Hunk whined, shifting from foot to foot. Sectionals had been split up (for the brass section, at least) into sections, the trumpets being directed to the quad near the middle of campus. There were numerous trees and other plants, namely colorful flowers, decorating the planters. One of these trees was a lemon tree, full of nearly-ripe lemons. Which also meant a tree covered in thorns. And Lance wanted to climb it.  _

 

_ “Stop worrying, man. Live a little, what’s the worst that could happen? Adam’s not a yeller, and he loves the trumpets.”  _

 

_ “Every brass staff loves the trumpet section.”  _

 

_ “Yeah! Because we’re the best. And favorability means less severe punishment, if any. Besides, our section is already dicking around. It’s like if everybody is speeding on the freeway you’re not really speeding since you’re just going the average speed.” Lance replied confidently. “The cops can’t pull over every single person, y’know.” he added. Hunk stared at him blankly.  _

 

_ “You are one of my best friends, and I mean this as nicely as possible, but I’m afraid of when you start driving. And that’s not how life works.”  _

 

_ “Whatever, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  _

 

_ “Okay, now you’re just not making sense.”  _

 

_ Lance shrugged, setting his trumpet down on his case before taking off into a spring towards the lemon tree. Hunk groaned and he followed suit.  _

 

_ By the time Hunk caught up to Lance, he was already getting ready to climb the tree. Lance had his hands gripping a branch, one foot on the ground and the other propped up on the trunk of the lemon tree. He started pulling himself up, his hands slipping as he started losing grip immediately. Lance was determined, though, and he repositioned his hands as he continued pulling himself up. Within seconds, Lance was crouched down on top of the branch, partially masked by the leaves. He laughed in victory.  _

 

_ “See, Hunk? I did it! Look, I’m even gonna grab this lem- SHIT!”  _

 

_ In a flash, Lance was on the ground, groaning in pain and holding a lemon in his left hand. A few leaves and twigs landed on him moments later, and he sat up, brushing off the debris. He had a few scratches on his hands, arms, and legs from both the thorns on the tree and falling onto the dirt below.  _

 

_ “Just because you did it doesn’t mean you necessarily succeeded.” Hunk tisked, shaking his head. “C’mon, let’s see if Adam or our section leader can patch you up.”  _

 

Keith snorted. “Why the hell would you try climbing a lemon tree?” he asked. Lance crossed his arms. 

 

“Trees are meant for climbing!” 

 

“Not lemon trees…? Those have thorns, y’know.” Keith wasn’t surprised that Lance climbed the tree. From what he’d both experienced firsthand and heard from Katie and Hunk, Lance seemed to always be drawn to bad ideas if even an ounce of fun could be involved. The lemon tree was no different. Keith kinda felt bad for Hunk; Hunk had to be Lance’s baby sitter 95% of the time. And he loved Hunk, but he seemed to be struggling with trumpet. Maybe his calling was with a different instrument.

 

“Alright,” Keith started, sitting up, “what about when we were messing around in the guard closet?” He suggested. Ah, the guard closet. Full of costumes, silks, makeup, and pieces from past shows, you were sure to find some interesting relics in there. There were even items in there from before Shiro was in high school, long before he even knew what marching band was. According to Shiro, the guard cleaned out the closet at the end of every year, but they didn’t do any major deep-cleaning. It was mostly organizing flag silks into bags so they could sell them to other guards and help with funding for either the guard’s fall or winter season, given the decade-and-above aged makeup hiding in the back. 

 

_ “Hey, uh, Keith? Are you sure this is a good idea? We’re kind of, like, breaking in.” Hunk shifted from foot to foot nervously, earning a shrug from Keith. He shoved the key into the lock, the rest of the keys on Shiro’s keyring jingling quietly. Turning the key and turning the knob, Keith opened the heavy door to the storage closet with a light shove. _

 

_ “We’re not breaking in if I have both Shiro’s permission and his keys. We’re just… gonna be doing some other stuff on top of what he asked us to grab. Besides, he doesn’t need this stuff immediately. I can cover for you guys if he gets suspicious.”  _

 

_ “Shiro totally plays favorites with you.” Lance laughed, walking past Keith with a light and playful shove. Keith rolled his eyes.  _

 

_ “Whatever.”  _

 

_ The rest of the group walked into the guard closet, Keith blindly looking for the light switch. He clicked it on, a light above them flickering and illuminating the storage space. It wasn’t in too bad of condition from the last clean-up, although the cabinets holding bags of flag silks was wide open. Some of the silks were hanging out of the bags, some of the bags on the floor, others sealed shut and folded nicely.  _

 

_ “Hey guys! Look, I’m Keith!” Lance called out, running over to the weapons rack. He grabbed a rifle, holding it completely wrong, and tossing it in the air.  _

 

_ “Lance-”  _

 

_ “SHIT-” he yelled as the rifle came back down, an audible  _ clunk _ as it made contact with Lance’s head. It clattered after landing on Lance’s foot, earning a wail from him as he fell to the ground. Hunk immediately rushed to his aide, holding Lance’s head in his hands as he inspected him for any injuries or wounds.  _

 

_ “You can’t be doing stupid stuff like that, Lance.” Hunk sighed, sitting Lance upright. Other than a minor bump forming on his head, and maybe some light bruising on his foot, Lance was fine.  _

 

_ “How the hell do you guys do that every day?!” Lance shot at Keith, practically glaring at him.  _

 

_ “Why are you glaring at me?! You’re the one that did something stupid and got hurt! There’s a reason we have Shiro and Allura around, they teach us proper weapon technique. Which you clearly do not have, none of the girls got hit in the head with equipment this entire week.” Keith shot back, crossing his arms.  _

 

_ “Oh whatever, mullet!”  _

 

_ “Lance, stop being a dick!” Katie barked. She took a deep breath, her shoulders relaxing as she looked down at Lance on the ground. “We’re in here to have some fun, so just lay off Keith. Nobody’s forcing you to be his best friend or anything, but you’ve been kind of an asshole to him this entire week.” She added, earning a sigh from Lance.  _

 

_ “Fine, fine,” Lance replied, standing up and brushing himself off with his hands, “sorry. I’ll lay off.”  _

 

_ Keith kept his arms crossed and he stayed silent, his eyes shooting daggers into Lance’s. Right as Lance opened his mouth to speak again, he chuckled.  _

 

_ “Thank you, that’s all I wanted to hear.” _

 

_ The rest of the break was spent trying on costumes and messing around with the makeup, running around the small space with silks and other stuff they found in there. With 20 minutes left in the break, Keith decided it was time to gather the supplies Shiro asked for. He shuffled through the shelves and cabinets to find the electrical tape and extra flag silks, walking out of the guard closet with the others. Keith gave Hunk the keys to lock it back up, and the group left, making their way down to Shiro in the stadium.  _

 

_ “Guys?” Lance asked hesitantly, “I think I left my phone in the closet.”  _

 

Keith groaned loudly. “God, I wanted to kill you. You realized that when we were walking into the stadium!” 

 

“Hey, Shiro got a laugh out of it.” Lance replied with a chuckle. Keith smiled softly.

 

“Eh, yeah. I guess that made up for it.” 

 

\----

 

The time for the performance creeped closer and closer, and Keith felt himself go into a panic as guard gathered at the endzones. 

 

“Shiro, I can’t do this, I’m gonna mess up-”

 

Shiro placed his hands on Keith’s shoulders, sighing quietly. “Take a deep breath, you’ll be fine. Remember my panic attack when I had my first performance? First show, first competition? It took a lot of time for me to get out of my shell, to get myself into that true performer mindset. But look at what I accomplished in my years of it. You’ll be fine.” 

 

Shiro was right, of course he was. He accomplished so much in his time; he made a career and a reputation of himself in the community, bands and independent guards from all over were emailing him in hopes to have Takashi Shirogane be the coach for their team. He had dozens upon dozens of emails declining their offers in his outbox, and he hated sending them off, but he had to. Altea High’s color guard was where Shiro belonged. Coaching his little brother, along with 29 other girls on the team. They all looked up to him. So of course he’d be right in this situation. 

 

“And you wanna know what my coach from Atlas Independent Guard told me?” Shiro asked. Keith remembered Atlas, it was the group Shiro stayed with the longest. 

 

“What?”

 

“Patience yields focus. Take a deep breath, focus in on yourself. Focus in on your movements, the equipment, the music around you. Calm down, be patient with yourself as you find this focus. Do that, and you’ll do great things.” 

 

Keith smiled after a moment, nodding. Patience yields focus, easy enough, right? He’d be fine. Shiro believed in him, Allura believed in him, everybody important to him was rooting for him. “Yeah,” he sighed, “I’ve got this.” 

 

“That’s what I like to hear. Now, go set your stuff, I have to give a speech after Alfor and Coran.”

 

\----

 

Keith only had one thing to set since he was a first year. As they learned more movements (they learned one movement during the week, and by the end of August or early September, they’d know all four movements), he’d have more equipment to set. For now, it was just a flag.

 

He set down the flag, running a few yard lines over to his opening dot, turning and looking at Shiro as the mic was handed to him. Shiro was everything Keith wanted to be. He had been Keith’s role model ever since he could remember, especially with his dad not around. 

 

“Hello parents, siblings, and everyone else here,” Shiro started; he sounded and looked confident as always as he spoke, like he was meant to be up there, “this week was a bit rough, especially to our freshmen and newbies to the band. From 7 AM to 7 PM every day for 5 days, they were here working hard in the heat, repping sets a thousand and one times. 

 

“For our freshmen, I congratulate you. It takes a lot of work to do what we all do. This isn’t my first band camp myself, I did four in high school, then two when I went into Drum Corps, and then I had a break from band camps when I started doing Independent Guards. This is my first one where I’ve been teaching, though, and it’s a whole new experience.

 

“For the seniors, you’ve all done this before, this is your last band camp. I remember my senior band camp, when I was a captain with Allura, and how bittersweet it was. How we were all dying in the heat, but we pushed through. We were gonna make our last time doing this in high school worth it, we’d never have this chance again. You all did the same, we could see it from the press box and from the field. Make your last season count, make every step, toss, note count, because championships will be here before you know it. 

 

“Now, before I keep you here for an hour, Allura has a few words, and we’ll start the performance.” Shiro said with a smile, handing her the mic. Her colorful and accented words carried through the stadium, her chipper and cheerful attitude apparent in every word she spoke. She went on about how working with the guard was wonderful, and how she was blessed to continue in the art that she fell in love with from a young age. 

 

And with that, it was time to perform.

 

Keith’s eyes immediately locked onto the drum major up front. 

 

_ One. _

 

_ Two. _

 

_ One, two, three, four… _

 

The band came alive as the majors conducted, the drum line tapping away at their instruments, the guard dancing on the field. Keith had to glance at the others as he moved to make sure he was doing the right movements. 

 

The eyes of the hundreds of audience members quickly melted away. The people around him melted away. Everything melted away from Keith, it was just him, the music, and his equipment on a plain of green turf and white hash marks. Was this what being a performer was? Was this what Shiro fell in love with years ago, and still to this day? The thrill, the adrenaline of hundreds of people watching your every move; Keith was falling in love with every beat, every move. Over 150 people marched and danced on that field as one, creating a beautiful sound and picture as the told the story of fears  _ the way they thought was right _ . They had total control over the audience and how they perceived it, and they were going to make sure it stuck with them. Such intense music to match the complex choreography of returning members, newly recruited individuals struggling, yet giving it their all to keep up. Keith made up his mind. This is where he belonged, this was his calling. He would follow in Shiro’s footsteps every step of the way. 

 

The feeling Keith had when the performance came to an end was indescribable. He felt a wave of emotions, unlike anything he had felt before. This was an art and a sport Keith was starting to fall in love with for the next four years and beyond.

 

\----

 

Afterwards, the students were free to socialize after the awards ceremony. The reindeer games they had done each night gave them points depending on who won the rounds, and the scores were added up at the end of the week. Keith’s team came in first, Lance’s in second. There was ice cream, too, for the students to enjoy, but Keith was lactose intolerant and didn’t feel like taking a lactaid, so he just lingered with his friend group. 

 

Shiro, Matt, Allura, and Adam approached the friend group, Lance frantically wiping the ice cream from his mouth. One of these days, Lance’s messing around was going to come back and bite him in the ass. Adam chuckled. 

 

“Matt, Allura, and I would do a little end-of-band-camp celebration when we were in high school, do you guys wanna do that?” Shiro asked curiously, glancing between the four freshmen. They all looked amongst themselves. 

 

“Sure! Let me ask my parents.” Hunk replied, Lance nodding in agreement. 

 

“You’re free to stay the night, too, if you’d like.” Shiro called out to them as they ran off to find their parents. “You too, Katie.” he chuckled. After a few minutes, Lance and Hunk came back with wide smiles. Their parents had agreed, and would bring them clothes to change into. 

 

\----

 

The evening was coming to a close at the school. Most of the students and their families had left, the staff (and their unlucky siblings plus friends) staying behind to make sure everybody had rides and that the stadium wasn’t a mess. The sun peeked out just barely above the horizon, drowning the space around the group in a burnt orange as the day turned to night. Keith felt a tap on his shoulder, and when he turned around, he saw Shiro. 

 

“Hey, everybody’s left. Let’s head out.” He said with a warm smile. Keith nodded, following closely behind Shiro. “Adam and everybody else is meeting us there, we’re on food duty.” Shiro said as they got into the car, but Keith wasn’t paying attention after that point. He started imagining Adam being around more often; he was pretty sure Shiro was into Adam. And it seemed like the opposite was true as well. 

 

As the two entered Shiro’s car, Keith looked over at Shiro. 

 

“What’s he like?” 

 

“Huh?”

 

“Adam. What’s he like?” Keith repeated his question, a light red spreading across Shiro’s cheeks. He smiled as he started the car, pulling out of the parking lot. 

 

“Adam Wright. He’s actually completely the opposite of what he shows at practice; he cracks a lot of jokes, he’s incredibly smart, and he’s one of those people that makes you feel like you’ve known him for your entire life. Someone you’d want to introduce to your family because you have no doubt they’ll all love him. He’s a great guy, really.” Shiro ended up cutting himself off before he went on and on about the man. He seemed to be smitten with Adam, and it made Keith happy to see Shiro in love like this, he was happy. Last time he was like this was in high school when he dated Allura, and he was sad to see them burnout. At least they were still great friends.

 

The two of them ran around town to get food (and some alcoholic beverages for the adults), and eventually showed up to their house. Allura was waiting in her car when they pulled in, getting out and greeting them. 

 

“Took you two long enough,” She laughed. “Want some help?”

 

“Yeah, there’s some stuff in the trunk,” Shiro replied. He tossed Keith the keys, to which they slipped out of his hands and to the ground. “Oh, come on! You’re in guard, you’re legally obligated to catch everything that’s tossed to you!” He laughed. “Could you open the garage and unlock the door?” 

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Keith sighed, grabbing the keys off the ground. He unlocked the garage and hurried inside, unlocking the door. Shiro and Allura came walking through with everything they bought, Shiro telling him to close the garage and come inside. He clicked the button, walking inside and taking off his shoes. Keith hurried over to the genkan, setting his shoes down and walking towards the kitchen. He passed Shiro and Allura on the way in, who were also placing their shoes on the genkan. 

 

“Keith, why don’t you shower and clean up while we get everything set up? I’m sure you’re looking forward to it.” Shiro said to him as he took items out of grocery bags, setting them on the counter. He was right, he still felt gross and sweaty from his day at band camp. “Hold on, before you go,” Shiro added, walking over to the fridge. He grabbed a bottle of aloe vera, tossing it to Keith. He caught it this time. “Good job. Alright, slap some of that on after your shower. Your burn’s getting a lot better, but you should still put it on. See you in a bit.” 

 

Keith thanked Shiro before heading upstairs to his room. Shiro closed the fridge and he grabbed a sleeve of plastic cups from the pantry, setting them on the counter. 

 

“So,” Allura hummed, “Adam. What’s going on between you two? Some of the girls were asking me about it today.” 

 

“It seems like everybody is interested in my personal and romantic life.” Shiro chuckled. “Well, we went on a few dates this week during the breaks. We happened to run into the kids on our way back one day, I’m not sure if the others picked up on it but I’m sure Keith’s catching on. I wasn’t planning on really saying much about it unless we became official or anything like that, since I take care of Keith full-time I didn’t want people coming and going in his life.” Shiro sighed. Allura gave him a warm smile as she placed her hand on his shoulder. 

 

“That’s very considerate of you, but don’t sell yourself short or make yourself miss out on anything huge. Keith wants you to be happy, and I think it would be good for him to see you with another man. He hasn’t had any dating experience, and something’s telling me it’s because he hasn’t truly  _ been around _ it. He knows it’s okay, but it’s almost like a foreign thing to him. He’s only seen couples of guys and girls.” Allura replied. She did have a good point, after all. Keith had known he was gay ever since he could remember, but he had never actually been around those kinds of relationships. Always surrounded by straight couples; he had nothing to reference when it came to his own feelings and such. Shiro nodded in agreement. “Besides,” Allura giggled, “I think you two would work out really well. You guys are always on the same page at work, both of you have this little glow when you’re around each other.” 

 

“Really?”

 

“Mhm.” Allura replied. As if on cue, someone knocked on the door. She raised her brows at Shiro. “And you should answer that. Maybe it’s Mr. Wright~-”

 

“You stop that.” Shiro laughed, leaving the kitchen. He walked over to the front door, unlocking it and swinging it open. There he was. Adam Wright. How was Allura always right? Shiro felt his face heat up a bit, to which he smiled warmly. “Glad you could make it, Adam.” 

 

“So am I,” Adam chuckled. “Who else is here?” 

 

“Allura’s in the kitchen and Keith’s upstairs cleaning up.” Shiro replied. For a moment, it looked like Adam was…  _ disappointed _ that Allura was there? He was probably just seeing things, though, so he didn’t pay much mind to it. “Why don’t you come inside? You can leave your shoes at the door, y’know, Japanese household.” He added, stepping aside for Adam to step inside. 

Adam nodded, walking in and taking off his shoes, leaving them at the door. He looked around; Shiro lived in a pretty big house, and it was completely spotless. The white carpet was intimidating, but it added to the overall look. He followed Shiro into the kitchen. 

 

“Is there anything I can help out with?” He asked, seeing the counter covered in liter bottles of soda and boxes of pizza. It did look neat, though, everything in a specific place. Cups by the drinks, plates and napkins by the boxes of pizza. It never hurt to ask, though. 

 

“I think it’s all taken care of, we’re just waiting for the others to arrive. Allura seems to have… disappeared.” Shiro replied. He knew exactly what Allura was doing. Giving them a chance to talk after her ‘pep-talk’. “I, um,  _ did _ want to ask you something, though.” Shiro turned to face Adam, leaning against the counter. 

 

“Ask away. Is it about us?” 

 

“Yes, actually. We’re been on a few dates, and I had a lot of fun. I haven’t really been  _ dating _ since I started spinning independent, I was more focused on guard and making sure Keith was doing okay. I wasn’t really giving myself a chance to put myself out there, but then you started working for Altea, and-” 

 

“Are you asking if we can make it official?” Adam asked, a playful smile tugging on his lips. Shiro laughed softly. 

 

“I knew you were an amazing brass player but I didn’t know you were a mind reader.” 

 

“I’m not, I was actually planning on asking you about it. You just happened to beat me to it.” Adam replied. “Now,” he added, walking up to Shiro. He placed his hands on the counter on either side of Shiro, his eyes flickering from his lips to his eyes. “I can do this, if that’s alright with you.” 

 

“Stop stalling, Wright.” Shiro replied with a chuckle. He leaned in, closing his eyes as he felt Adam’s lips on his. Adam was the spark to an old flame in Shiro, a fire he hadn’t felt in years. Not since Allura, not since high school when he was 16. Now 23, he had finally met someone that gave him that spark. This time, though, it was much more intense, like Shiro and Adam were meant to be, like- 

 

“Anybody else h- shit, sorry-” Keith’s voice could be heard from the hall, cutting himself off as he walked into the kitchen. When Shiro pulled back to look at Keith from over Adam’s shoulder, he could see the younger one was bright red in the face. 

 

“Well, Adam’s here, but I think you could have figured out that one on your own. Nobody else is here, though.” Shiro chuckled. “Did you need something?” 

 

“N-Nope, just letting you know I finished, um, cleaning up, I’m-” Keith was interrupted by knocking on the door. “I’ll go get that!” 

 

Shiro laughed as Keith ran off, completely flustered. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go make sure my brother isn’t traumatized.” He said, pecking Adam on the lips gently before Adam stepped back, watching Shiro leave the kitchen. “Hey, Keith,” Shiro called out, placing his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Are you alright?” 

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, um, sorry for like, walking in on you and Adam.” Keith replied, looking up at Shiro. His face was still a bright red, but he didn’t seem to be as jumpy as earlier. “I totally knew it would happen, though.” He added, cracking a smile. 

 

“It seems like everybody guessed correctly, then.” Shiro replied. “You look like something’s on your mind. Why don’t you answer the door and we can go talk in your room?” Shiro knew Keith probably better than Keith knew himself. The younger brother nodded, opening the door. There stood Katie, Lance, and Hunk, Matt looking like he was talking to Lance and Hunk’s parents. “Hey guys, welcome. Take off your shoes at the door, we have house slippers we wear inside so slip on some of those, and we’ll figure out what room you guys can sleep in so just leave your belongings in the living room.”

 

The three of them took off their shoes and replaced them with the slippers like Shiro had asked, leaving their stuff in the living room. Allura led them into the kitchen, since she had seemed to reappear, Shiro and Keith going upstairs. Shiro sat down on Keith’s chair at his desk, which didn’t have much on it. A closed laptop, some pens and pencils in a cup, and a lamp that was currently turned off. It was a swivel chair, Shiro couldn’t even count how many times he had heard Keith falling off of it from downstairs. He turned the chair to face Keith, who looked like he was both in thought and a bit flustered. He looked up, a warm, reassuring smile on Shiro’s face. 

 

“So, wh-” 

 

“So you can actually date guys.” Keith blurted out. “I mean, I know that it’s… okay? But, I just… I don’t-” 

 

“Keith, I get it.” Shiro replied. “You haven’t really been… exposed to it, so while I’ve always encouraged you to be yourself, you had no visual justification to truly tell you that it’s okay. But yes, you can date guys. I just happen to have an attraction to both males and females, and you…” Shiro trailed off, his eyebrows going up as if he was waiting for Keith to finish the sentence. 

 

“Only have an attraction to guys.” Keith finished after a short moment of hesitation.Then, a smile crept onto his face. “Yeah, I like guys.” 

 

As he watched his brother have his mini self-realization, Shiro couldn’t help but smile as well. A thought popped into his head. 

 

“So, is there a specific one you have your eyes on in band? Band mating seasons start in September, but you can always get a head start-” he chuckled, getting cut off.

 

“L- Nope. None. Nada. Not a chance. I wouldn’t even date in my own band, isn’t that a bad idea anyways?” Keith stuttered, not making much of an effort to cover himself up. He more acted like he wasn’t about to say the name of the annoying trumpet player who seemed to not be too fond of the color guard boy. Shiro wasn’t stupid, from what he could tell, Lance may have some sort of feelings for Keith, romantic or platonic (Shiro was leaning more towards romantic, but it was too early to fully determine it). Perhaps Lance was coming off as more aggressive or stand-offish as a means of getting Keith’s attention. Which seemed to work. He couldn’t even count the number of times Keith would complain about Lance during their time off. It seemed as though Shiro wasn’t the only one who saw this, either, given that Adam had the brilliant idea of putting Keith and Lance together for the partner dance in the second movement, and both Matt and Allura saw it as well. Outsiders were always better at seeing things before the couple got together, or even picked up on the others’ feelings. 

 

“I mean, it’s not a  _ horrible  _ idea. Remember, Allura and I dated in high school.”

 

“...Oh yeah.” 

 

“So, you’re sure you don’t have your eyes on anybody?” 

 

“Yep.”

 

“What about any eyes on  _ you _ ?” Shiro asked, a playful smile on his face. Keith immediately blushed a dark red, his whole face erupting into a crimson hue. He shook his head furiously. 

 

“No, god no, people don’t like me-”

 

“Oh you know that’s a lie, Keith. Remember those girls you turned down in middle school? They wrote you love letters and everything, and you just said ‘no’ and walked away. Why do you not think anybody could like you like that?”

 

At this point, Keith was beginning to feel overwhelmed with the conversation. That was a topic he didn’t feel like getting into at the moment. He stood up, his arms crossed. 

 

“I’m… gonna go join my friends downstairs.” Keith mumbled, leaning from foot to foot. “Thanks for that talk, Shiro, it really helped me out.” He added, flashing Shiro a small smile before opening his door. He walked out, Shiro listening to his quiet footsteps fade out into the hall and downstairs. Shiro sighed quietly. 

 

“Well…” he muttered, standing up, “maybe that’s a conversation for another day. He’s probably tired from this week. Yeah, that’s it.” He realized that he was now talking to himself, which was a habit he felt he should break, and decided to go downstairs as well. Adam greeted him at the base of the stairs, holding out his hand for Shiro to hold with a warm smile on his face. Shiro couldn’t help but match it upon seeing him, placing his hand in Adam’s before they rejoined the party.


	5. First Day, Best Day, Right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that band camp is over, Keith and the rest of the band and color guard freshman experience their first day of high school. Keith isn't too thrilled about it.

The little party went on for the night, and at some point Adam had pulled out some alcohol at one point, and although Shiro never got shitfaced (this was an absolute lie, his fellow team members in his winter guard international groups would go out drinking after major shows to celebrate and Keith could remember a good handful of things drunk Shiro had said when he came home), he did partake in a drink or two with the others. Matt, on the other hand… 

The drinks did not stop at two. The only reason he was allowed to have the number he did was because he was even funnier when he was drunk than sober. Not to say he wasn’t hilarious without alcohol, but he even managed to crack himself up, which in turn made everybody crack up well before the punchline. Currently, he sat on the counter, rambling about why cutting off Mike Wazowski’s legs would be the same thing as beheading him. He didn’t make much sense in his drunk rambles, but it was absolutely hilarious either way.

Shiro and Adam sat next to each other at the table, Allura across from them. She wasn’t much of a drinker herself, never had been (even with her WGI group). Shiro was leaning against Adam, their seats close together. 

“If… you behead Mike Wazowski… it’s the same thing as cutting off his legs! And like, what the FUCK is his anatomy?! Where are his lungs! Where’s his heart! His stomach! How big is his brain! I need answers, I need-”

“So,” Shiro said, apologizing to Matt for cutting off his ramble about Mike Wazowski, “Matt, you’re most definitely staying here, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you take an Uber home. And your sister’s here so you’ll need to take her home. Allura, what are your plans?” 

“Well, while I feel like I could drive home, I don’t want to risk it. And I don’t trust Ubers. Do you still have that guest room upstairs?” Allura asked, taking a sip of her drink. Cranberry juice and vodka, a classic. 

“Yeah, you can take that,” Shiro replied with a soft smile. “And I think that Matt’s gonna pass out on the couch like he usually does when he’s like this anyways. You’re free to take the guest room.” 

“Aaaaaaaaaand Adam’s gonna crash,” Matt slurred, doing air quotes around ‘crash’, “in Shiro’s room, right?” 

God, Shiro just about died at that. He felt his face heat up, enveloping his face in a hot red hue. Adam laughed at this comment and at Shiro’s reaction. He thought it was cute, but Adam didn’t realize that it was genuine embarrassment from not being in a relationship for… years. Shiro never found himself in a serious relationship after Allura; sure, he went on dates every once in a while during his professional winterguard days, but he never found himself settling down and getting serious. Adam, however, was a different story. It was way too early to determine anything in the long run, but something was telling Shiro that this would last for a while. They’d already been on 3 dates that week, and each one felt like they’d been on a hundred before. It felt so natural for the two of them, they clicked instantly. They didn’t know it, but Matt and Allura had called it beforehand. The moment they both walked into the band building, Matt and Allura looked at each other. And they knew; they knew this would play out well. They’d meet, get to know each other, and fall. Fall hard. Man, were they right. 

“I- uh, I don’t mind, wherever Adam wants to sleep. I can give him my bed and I can sleep on the flo-” Shiro started, getting cut off by Adam. 

“No, I’m not making you sleep on the floor of your own room, let alone your own home.” Adam chuckled. “I really don’t mind wherever I go. Really.” Maybe he was picking up on Shiro’s body language, picking up on his embarrassment about the topic. Shiro gave him a soft smile, thankful for Adam being so understanding. 

“We’ll figure it all out, don’t stress out over it.” Allura said with a reassuring smile. “Also, how’s the group upstairs? Have Keith and Lance killed each other yet?” She asked, glancing over at the stairs outside of the kitchen. The group went silent, listening for any arguing upstairs. There was none, and instead, faint laughing could be heard. 

“Huh,” Shiro mumbled, “I’ll go check up on them real quick.” He got up, walking over to the stairs and going up to the second level. Standing outside of Keith’s room, he could hear the laughing much more clearly now. It warmed his heart to hear Keith’s laughter mixed in with the others’. He knocked before opening the door. “Hey guys, the adults are gonna be going to bed. Don’t stay up too late.”

Shiro had to laugh when he saw the scene laid out in front of him. Keith looked like he was wearing about 7 shirts, Lance had his phone open to Snapchat and using some weird filter on Keith’s face, and Katie and Hunk seemed to be using Keith’s laptop to edit a video. They all stopped dead where they were, their eyes landing on Shiro. Then they erupted into even louder laughter. 

“Hi Mr. Shirogane! We wanted to see how many shirts Keith could put on, Katie and Hunk recorded it and now they’re putting it into a video.” Lance said with a wide smile, turning off his phone. “Are we being too loud?”

“No, no, not at all,” Shiro replied, shaking his head. “You kids have fun, like I said the adults are going to bed. Just don’t stay up too late.” he gave the kids a knowing look. He knew they would completely disregard that warning, they were teenagers on summer break. Shiro was their age at one point, after all. He told the kids goodnight, closing the door and going back downstairs. 

———

Just like every morning of band camp, Shiro threw open the door, blasting the show music at 6 AM. Keith groaned loudly; he never understood how Shiro could be such a morning person. But, in hindsight, it seemed that the only times Shiro was a morning person were if marching band or color guard were involved. Once the season ended, it was a feat to get Shiro out of bed for anything. If there was a 4 AM call time, though? He was more than ready to go. Keith wondered if he’d be like that, or if marching band was another thing that made him not want to get out of bed. He doubted the latter. 

Shiro already had breakfast made downstairs, and since he made sure Keith already had his outfit for school picked out the night before, he only needed to change into his practice clothes. His equipment bag was at the school already, so after breakfast, Shiro and Keith got into the car, Keith carrying both his backpack and duffle bag, and headed to school. 

“So,” Shiro glanced over at Keith, “first day of high school. How’re you feeling?” 

“I’m feeling fine.” Keith replied. That was a lie. He was feeling quite anxious. He hoped he had some classes with Katie, as well as other marching band kids. Or some of the guard girls. There were 7 freshmen on the team, so the chances of at least one of them being in one of Keith’s classes was likely. Shiro chuckled softly. 

“You’ll be fine. I remember my first day of high school, I wasn’t too familiar with anybody since I stuck mostly with Matt and Allura during band camp. But then I decided it would help me if I tried befriending people in the band, especially the ones I had in my classes. It helped me out a lot. And the other team members were more than willing to help out the younger ones with school work and classes, it was really convenient. I probably wouldn’t have passed highschool with the grades I did.” Shiro sighed happily at the thought of it. Unlike a lot of people, he happened to think that high school was the best four years of his life. He probably had marching band to thank for that; it shaped his life. “I’m not telling you to make everyone your best friend, you’ve already got a pretty tight knit group with those three. But try… broadening your friend group. Or even just your acquaintance group. Trust me on that.”

Keith sighed quietly. He knew Shiro was right. Shiro was always right. There was never a time in his entire life that Shiro didn’t guide him in the right direction. He should trust him on this. Besides, it wasn’t like Shiro was forcing him to befriend all 157 people in the marching band. He’d be fine. 

“Alright. I’ll do that then. Thanks Shiro.” He said, smiling softly. Shiro glanced over at Keith again. Keith wasn’t too much of an expressive person, so seeing small things like that ensured Shiro that everything he did for Keith was 100% worth it. Each and every day. 

———

Morning practice was absolute hell. Everyone was tired, so Alfor and Coran were getting a bit frustrated at the fact that not everybody’s head was into it. Keith was glad that Shiro also made sure he packed sunglasses, because once the morning sun rose above the bleachers, it was quite blinding. And at eye level. Which was not convenient for the guard who had to toss (namely the weaponline, flags were much easier to spot). Shiro and Allura only kept the guard for about 20 minutes after first period, since guard was its own period after band, to give them a chance to clean up and make themselves presentable for their first day of school. Allura grabbed the keys and left to unlock the girls’ dressing room to change out of their practice clothes, and it hit Keith. 

Where was he going to change? 

Keith looked up at Shiro, a bit concerned. 

“Shiro?” He asked, but it seemed that the concern also passed through his head. 

“I’m sure I can get you a key so you can take the boys’ dressing room. It’s also the prop room for theatre but since you’ll be the only one in there I don’t think you’ll mind too much.” Shiro said, ruffling Keith’s hair. He immediately looked disgusted, but Keith knew he was joking. “Ewwww, you’re all sweaty and gross.” 

“Oh shut up!” Keith laughed, pushing his hand away. 

“Alright, alright,” Shiro chuckled, “I can ask Allura to-“

“Unlock the bathroom next to the girls’ locker room? Already done, I’m surprised neither of you didn’t realize this issue earlier on.” Allura tisked, shaking her head. “Did Shiro tell you what we were all doing after school?”

“No-“

“I was about to.” Shiro sighed. “We’re all going to dinner tonight to get sushi, like a celebration dinner for you starting high school.” As Shiro spoke, Keith seemed to light up completely. 

“Sushi?”

“Mhm. Your favorite.” Shiro smiled widely, playfully nudging him in the shoulder. Keith laughed again, and Allura shooed him off. 

“Alright, alright, go change and clean up. Shiro’ll pick you up after school.”

Keith rolled his eyes playfully and walked off, grabbing his bag and going into the bathroom. There was still over 20 minutes for him to get ready, so he decided to play some music. The typical playlist of an emo kid from 2009-2012, filled with enough screaming to concern anybody. Unless you were Shiro, and knew that your younger sibling listening to this sort of music wasn’t anything concerning, he just genuinely enjoyed it. For some reason. Well, it could be worse, he could be on the streets doing drugs. He’d take screamo over drugs any day. 

Keith hummed along to the songs, brushing out his hair, freshening up, getting dressed (which, his style seemed to match his music taste. A black and red striped thermal underneath a black plain t-shirt, red jeans and black Doc Martens. He also had black fingerless gloves that Shiro still didn’t know how he obtained), things like that. He looked at himself in the mirror, satisfied with his look and checking the time. He had enough time to put his bag away, grab his backpack, and head to class. Perfect. He left the bathroom with all of his belongings, swapping out his duffle bag for his backpack, leaving the band building as the bell hit. 

His first class (well, third period technically) was English 9A, and when he walked in, of course, he did not see a single person he knew. He took the seat in the back corner, which he was thankful for not being taken already, pulling out his phone. He started playing a game to pass the time, looking up in annoyance as he heard a loud groan from the door. 

“UGH, WHY IS KEITH IN MY CLASS?” Lance cried out, throwing his head back dramatically. “He even took my seat!”

“I got here before you did, so this is my seat.” Keith replied flatly. 

“Whatever, Kogane. Woah, you look super fuc-”

“Language, Mr. McClain,” the teacher said sharply from his desk.

“Sorry, sorry. Anyways, you look super emo. Let me guess, your favorite colors are red and black?” Lance asked sarcastically, falling into the seat next to Keith. 

“Shut up. Are you really gonna sit here and harrass me every day?” 

“Yes I am.” 

This prompted Keith to roll his eyes as he put his phone away. Class started, but this didn’t stop Lance from bothering Keith all period. Reaching over and lightly kicking Keith, throwing crumpled up sticky notes, bothersome things like that. Keith had to use every ounce of restraint in him from telling Lance to knock it off (with more… colorful words, of course). The first day of English was like any other first day of class; handing out a syllabus, the teacher introducing themselves, classic ice breakers that Keith always dreaded with the new year, things like that. He didn’t pay much mind to the others’ introductions, putting the least amount of effort into his own introduction. Lance, of course, put 110% into his, making sure everyone knew who he was. He didn’t understand how someone could be so energetic and outgoing, wanting themselves to be known. Sure, Keith was now a performer himself, but he was a performer in a group, not a solo act. He could never do anything solo, he didn’t want all eyes on only him. Keith was fine being part of a group act.

As the bell hit and Keith got up to leave, he got a playful shove from Lance, who received a death glare from Keith as a result. Although, he wasn’t really pissed off from Lance’s interactions. If it were someone else, he would have probably been dragged out of class and already in the principal’s office for violence. But it was Lance. Someone he couldn’t quite tell if they were friends yet, but he certainly didn’t hate him. He wouldn’t be surprised if Lance thought he did, though, given the way Keith was reacting to him. 

 

The next class on Keith’s schedule was health, followed by Algebra 1A, Japanese 1A, and Biology A. Keith figured that the A stood for first semester, and B would be second semester. Not only did Keith and Lance share English class, they also shared Biology at the end of the day. Keith, at first, was annoyed at sharing another class with Lance, but remembered Shiro’s advice from earlier about at least becoming acquaintances with people he shared classes with. He decided to put up with it, thankful he even had someone he knew in that class. Even if it was Lance. Keith happened to be sharing health with Pidge and Hunk, but was on his own for Algebra and Japanese. He wasn’t worried about Japanese, he was already relatively fluent in the language; if he needed any help, he could just go to Shiro. 

Each class that day was relatively the same, syllabi, introductions, things like that. Most people looked forward to the first day of school, the beginning of the new year, but it was, in Keith’s opinion, the worst day. It was so… boring. Same thing every period. It was hard to not fall asleep in the midst of it all. Keith found himself drifting off during seventh period, being tapped awake by Lance (who sat next to him again), jumping awake as the bell rang signaling the end of school. Keith grabbed his bag, getting up to leave before he heard Lance talking next to him. 

“Hey, Keith, wanna come with Pidge, Hunk, and I to hang out after school? We’re gonna go get pizza down at that place down the street.” He asked. The students were quickly leaving the classroom, one by one leaving them alone. 

“I’d… I’d really like to,” Keith replied, facing him, “but Shiro’s picking me up and we’re going somewhere for dinner. Sorry.” 

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Lance smiled, getting up. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you.”

———

When Keith and Shiro walked into the sushi restaurant, they saw Adam and Allura sitting at the table near the back. They waved, to which the brothers waved back and walked towards the table, sitting down with them. 

“How was school?” Adam asked, taking a sip of his drink. Keith shrugged. 

“Boring.” 

“Boring?” 

“Keith always hates the first day of school,” Shiro sighed, “but he-”

“It boring because it’s the same crap every period. ‘Here’s the syllabus, get your parent or guardian to sign it and bring it back by Friday’ ‘I’m gonna hand out an index card and I want you to write down your name and three facts about yourself’ ‘let’s play a Kahoot’, like what the hell? It’s stupid.” Keith huffed, crossing his arms. Adam chuckled; he remembered his days of high school. How he thought the first day was also boring as hell. 

“I hate to break it to you, but it’s like that in college. Well, except the fact that they hand out the syllabus, give a 1 minute introduction of themselves, and start the lesson. So I guess it’s still boring, but in a different way.” He replied. The waitress came around and got their orders for their drinks, walking off afterwards. “So, besides boring classes,” Adam started, crossing his arms, “share any classes with your friends?” 

“Oh, yes, I’d like to hear about that,” chimed Allura, looking a bit smug. Keith sighed. 

“I share health with Pidge and Hunk, and I’m pretty sure there’s a few kids from band in my classes, but I didn’t recognize them. I also have biology and English with Lance, sadly—”

“Oooooooooooooh, Lance?” Adam teased, earning a glare from Keith. 

“Shut up.” Keith mumbled, looking away. Adam laughed, reaching over and ruffling his hair. Keith muttered something under his breath as Adam dropped his hand, slipping his hand into Shiro’s. A light blush rose to Shiro’s cheeks, and he smiled over at Adam. He leaned over, kissing his cheek gently, receiving one back from Adam. Allura giggled softly. 

“Look at you two, being affectionate in public. That’s cute.” 

Keith glanced over at Shiro and Adam, and Allura was right. Not overly affectionate, Shiro was never the sucking-face-in-public type, but enough to where someone looking at them couldn’t just write off their closeness as being ‘best friends’ or whatever people said instead of just admitting two people of the same sex were in a romantic relationship. It sparked something in Keith, an emotion he wasn’t sure how to describe, but he knew it was a sense of comfort in a way. A sense of comfort knowing that it was okay for Keith to feel the way he felt. That it was okay to not have any attraction towards girls, because Shiro was showing him right then and there that it was okay. More than okay, actually, because Shiro had never led him down the wrong path or gave him bad advice. Keith knew he could trust Shiro at all times, and he knew that Shiro wanted Keith to be happy. He looked away before he let his gaze linger too long, catching Allura’s knowing eyes instead. Keith didn’t know it, but that was exactly what Allura was wanting to happen. 

———

Adam had teased Keith some more, the group talked about marching band, and the night went well. Now, in the comfort of their home, Keith and Shiro sat on the couch as a movie played quietly. Keith had his arms crossed, as per usual, and he looked over at Shiro.

“So… You and Adam…” Keith said quietly. Shiro felt his heart drop in that moment. Was Keith about to say that he didn’t like Adam? Shiro promptly paused the movie, turning his body to look at Keith. 

“What’s up? Do you… not like him?” Shiro asked in response, Keith’s eyes widening. He shook his head furiously, putting his hands up in defense. 

“No, no! That’s not it at all! Sorry if I worried you,” which Keith knew he did, as Shiro had sighed in relief, “I just… I’ve never… seen you with… a guy. But you look really, really happy with him.”

“Do I?” Shiro smiled. “He does make me very happy.”

“I can tell, and I’m pretty sure that everyone else who sees you guys can tell. I know that officially resigning from WGI wasn’t an easy decision to make, and I can tell that you’re not as happy as you were in those days. No offense.” Keith had eventually settled back into his arms-crossed position, but facing Shiro this time around. Shiro let out a breathy sigh; Keith was right. Teaching the next generation of color guard was something he loved doing, but the thrill of actually performing himself? Backing away somewhat from something he loved so dearly and spent so much of his life doing? It did tear a part of himself away. A craving he could never fulfill. Because to go back meant that he’d be leaving behind the team, leaving Keith again like when he was younger. Not that Shiro and Keith were separated for too long during his WGI days, but as Keith started his own journey into the sport, he knew the younger brother would greatly appreciate having a guiding light. 

“No offense taken, I know what you’re talking about. WGI is a bit different, since they don’t really have an age cap like DCI does, I’ve heard of people spinning into their 50s and 60s somehow, and while I knew I would never do it for that long, I didn’t go into it planning on quitting as early as I did. But I had to make a decision, do WGI full time, or teach the next generation. Sure, I could have done both, but I couldn’t teach full time since I couldn’t take breaks from WGI. If Atlas took a 2 week trip to Europe for Nationals, that would be 2 weeks of me being gone from both home and from the team. Same thing went for Allura, and we’re kind of a package deal, so we both made the decision to step back. Now we teach you guys, and I haven’t told you yet, so don’t tell anybody else this, but Atlas wants Allura and I to go in around late December to lead a 3-day workshop. I’m dragging you with me, by the way, but you should have expected that,” Shiro chuckled, “but I’m getting off-topic. The point is, sure, I miss being out there and spinning myself, but watching you and the team start to fall in love with it like I did when I was your age makes it completely worth it. It’s like… watching Allura and I from a staff’s eyes. It’s refreshing me, and by being your instructors, we can stay in touch with both the high school side of color guard and the professional WGI world. A lot of WGI spinners eventually resign to be guard techs and instructors at some point, or judges, or both, so we keep that part of ourselves.

“Also, if I didn’t resign when I did, I wouldn’t be a part of Altea’s band. And I wouldn’t have met Adam.” Shiro smiled, reaching over and ruffling his hair. “I wouldn’t have met him, or I wouldn’t have met him when I did, and I wouldn’t be working alongside Matt. I have people I went through high school band at my side, plus Adam. So while I may not be as… happy as I was in my WGI days, I’m really happy with where I am now. It’s a different type of happy, I guess. The best way I can put it is how you felt watching me perform in my younger days compared to now, where you get to do it yourself. Just… somewhat opposite.” He chuckled. Shiro glanced at his phone, seeing the time. “Alright, Keith, you should get ready for bed. Did you leave your syllabuses on the table for me to sign?” 

“Mhm.” 

“Alright, I’ll get those signed. Goodnight, Keith.” 

“Goodnight, Shiro.”


End file.
